One Twin
by Karakuri Pierrot
Summary: Dipper wakes up one night from a horrid dream, only to come face to face with a reality that he has been ignoring. [Oneshot]


Ideally read with Marianas Trech's One Love. This is no romance story though. Just a Pines Twins tribute.

* * *

 _She dances to the cheesy songs that she loves, brimming with childish ignorance and unbound happiness. Her dark pink sweater swaying with her movements, emphasizing her wild but graceful steps. She spins with abandon, stopping when her vision doubles from dizziness. She wobbles a bit before straightening up. She sees me. I know because she had that silly grin she always has before dragging me into her crazy plans._

" _Hey, bro-bro!" Her braces make her smile glint in the disco lights. She runs to me, Waddles suddenly hot in her heels._

 _A blinding flash of yellow explodes._

"MABEL!"

Dipper sat up in cold sweat, shaken from the dream. Still feeling unreal, he buried his face into his hands, trying to get rid of the cold mist that kept biting at his consciousness. It wouldn't work. 'Why won't it work?'

"Mabel?" His voice came out as a whisper, making him wonder if she even heard him.

"Bad dream, bro-bro?" She sounds tired, probably still half-asleep.

"Yeah… It was so weird." His throat suddenly tightened up, but he didn't know why. He turned his head to look at her, to show her how the dream shook him up good. There she was, like in his dream, hair somehow still neat after hours of sleeping, and in her favorite shooting star sweater, but her eyes… It seemed different, too sad to be his sister's bright chocolate orbs much like his.

Her mouth started to move but he heard nothing. A tear escaped her eye before she faded away with the mist in his consciousness. Suddenly, she was gone. Her bed at the other side of the room cold and empty once again. His chest tightened once more, and the pain made him take a sharp intake of air, breaking the trance he didn't know he was in. 'Oh, yeah. She's…' _Gravity Falls. Weirdmageddon. Mabel's screams._ Tears fell before he even knew it.

He tried to get off the bed, but his legs were too shaky at first. With his second try, he managed to cross the room—the 18-step across felt like forever. Her bed was the same as she left it before they went to Gravity Falls that summer—stuffed toys lined neatly along the headboard, her preteen magazines scattered at the foot of her bed, and somehow, a lot of glitter and scrapbooking stuff on the covers. He spies a familiar looking book crudely stashed under her pillow, and gently tugs it away from its hiding place. 'My scrapbook!' It was just like it was when he gave it to her on their 12th birthday.

He carefully sat down on her bed. 'Too cold,' he thought but shook it away. He opened the scrapbook with caution and browsed through the pages, remembering the hardships he went through to make it for her behind her back. The pictures he agonizingly took of all her favorite stuff and the Sev'ral Timez stickers he embarrassingly bought.

" _You made this for me, Dipper?" A nod. "I love it, bro-bro! Thank you!"_

A bitter smile danced on his lips once he reached the last page. There, for the world to see, immortalized for eternity in photo paper was him and Mabel sharing a happy non-awkward sibling hug. She had just won the art contest that the school held, and she was really proud of her accomplishment. He was proud of her, of course. He was the one who helped her bring it to school and everything. He even stayed up with her for the late nights she spent working on it, and helped her finish her homework early so she can work on her project without any worries.

Just as he was about to close it, his thumb made contact with a paper that jutted out underneath the last page. Driven by curiosity, he turned the last page to see Mabel's addition to his gift—a picture of them the night before they left for Gravity Falls. Underneath the photo, written in her neat script was this: "Dipper and I are going to spend this summer out of town! I'm so excited!" He smiled fondly as he read it in her voice. That was the first summer they had out of town without their parents, so it was a big deal.

He gently touched the photo only to realize that it wasn't glued to the cover. There was nothing underneath the picture, but when he flipped the photograph, his resolve shattered. One tear. Two tears. Three, four. He started crying, but he wouldn't—no, couldn't wipe them away. He whispered apologies under his breath that he knew she couldn't hear. He hugged the scrapbook firmly to his chest, wishing that she was still here, his one and only sister and twin.

"Mabel... I'm sorry…"

 _ **As long as I'm with Dipper, I'm sure this will be a great summer!**_

 _ **...**_

 _What if I wake up tonight and you are real?_

 _What if we could find a way to try to heal?_

 _What if there's no stoppin' us yet?_

 _What if the one true love's the only one that you get?_

 _What if there was still a reason not to go?_

 _What if there was still a little bit of hope?_

 _So don't stop, no stoppin it yet_

 _ **What if the one true love's the only one that you get?**_


End file.
